Miley Cyrus debuts at No. 1 with 'Bangerz'

Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for The General

Miley Cyrus' latest album, "Bangerz," entered the Billboard album chart this week at No. 1. In this photo, Miley Cyrus attends the Miley Cyrus' Official Album Release Party for "Bangerz" at The General in New York City.

Miley Cyrus' latest album, "Bangerz," entered the Billboard album chart this week at No. 1. In this photo, Miley Cyrus attends the Miley Cyrus' Official Album Release Party for "Bangerz" at The General in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for The General)

Mikael Wood

Controversy -- it still works.

After months of hubbub and hand-wringing over her racy rebranding, Miley Cyrus entered the Billboard 200 chart this week at No. 1 with her new album "Bangerz," on which the former Disney Channel star sings (and raps) about various grown-up activities over beats honed by a number of hip-hop hit-makers.

"Bangerz" sold 270,000 copies in its first week in stores, according to Nielsen SoundScan, enough to secure 20-year-old Cyrus her fifth No. 1 album, including several released as her one-time alter ego Hannah Montana. Cyrus' last solo album, 2010's "Can't Be Tamed," peaked at No. 3.

Preceded by the hit singles "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball" -- the latter of which sits at No. 2 this week on the Hot 100 -- "Bangerz" also enjoyed a number of positive reviews; Pop & Hiss said the album "reveals that Cyrus isn't just a twerk-bot programmed to titillate."

But there's no overestimating the value of shock, which might be why Cyrus' handlers released photos Wednesday of the singer dressed in a suit of silvery body paint while shooting a music video with the rapper Future.

Behind Cyrus on the album chart, the emo-rock band Panic! at the Disco debuted at No. 2 with its latest, "Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!" Last week the group sought a bit of controversy of its own with a music video in which frontman Brendon Urie re-creates the R&B star D'Angelo's nudity-enhanced clip for his song "Untitled (How Does It Feel)." (Decide for yourself how well Urie fares.)

Other albums entering the chart this week include Pusha T at No. 4 with "My Name Is My Name," the cast of "Glee" at No. 7 with music from an episode that paid tribute to the late Cory Monteith's character Finn Hudson, and the rap-rock band Korn at No. 8 with "The Paradigm Shift."